9 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Dynamite: Winter Is Coming (14 Dec - Review)
Ups…
9. Hammer To Fall
There hasn’t yet been a bad Elite/Death Triangle encounter in the ongoing Best-Of-Seven series for the AEW Trios Titles, and while this was a long way short of the exhilarating original, won’t generate the chatter of the CM Punk troll deal on November 16th or evoke memories of war waged as much on the ramp as in the ring on November 23rd, it told a nice and simple story within the body of the match as a way to emphasise and escalate the developing feud.
Nick Jackson’s ankle injury early on put The Elite at a numerical disadvantage, and by the time he’d returned, he still couldn’t even the odds; Matt had been taken out of the action with an apron piledriver and Kenny Omega and his injured shoulder could do little to stop the Champions pulverising Nick’s weakened and exposed ailment with a hammer. It teed up Rey Fenix securing an easy submission win and a 3-1 advantage in the series.
One thing begat another, too. Omega claimed his post-match promo wasn’t on the format (whilst tacitly seeming to dig out the rest of the show for having too many?), which might be why it felt clunky and uncharacteristically uncool. The point, when he got to it, was that the next match was to have a No Disqualification rule in order to counter the Champions’ constant use of their favourite weapon. This will ensure yet another encounter has an identity and USP of its own, as did the announcement that the final two showdowns (if needed) will be fought under Falls Count Anywhere and Escalera De La Muerte.